The Impending Darkness and the Glint of Gold
by oopspro
Summary: This continues the story from "Glint of Gold" but expands the Danny Phantom universe. What will Danny do when an evil from the ages breaks free from its bonds to once again roam the earth. Will Danny's new powers be enough and will he ever be able to return to what he once was? Please read and review. Any comments are gladly accepted.


The Impending Darkness and the Glint of Gold

Prologue

"Good morning Amity Park, I'm Carol Winters with your morning news update. Mayor Foley has downgraded the Spectral Warning back to yellow as of last night due to the defeat and capture of Vlad Masters, worldwide ghost menace and former mayor, at the hands of our home town hero Danny Phantom, who was unavailable for comment. He is currently being held by Amity Park police awaiting trial.

This move has brought some measure of civil unrest as anti-ghost groups and others have begun to picket the mayor's office and the police station with messages ranging from 'people with ghost powers don't have rights' to advocating mob justice for Masters. Meanwhile leaders from all over the world have weighed in on the situation vying for their turn to get at him for his blackmail of the world during the meteor incident. The UN will be holding talks about how to proceed against Masters, but Mayor Foley has already said that while he understands that Masters is a criminal on a global scale his crimes in Amity Park were prior and more numerous which gives Amity Park the first crack at him in any jurisdictional dispute. He has promised the citizens of Amity Park justice under the law for Masters and he plans to overview the proceedings personally.

The overview of it all is that the citizens of Amity Park can breathe easier today and I for one am glad to be out from under the dark cloud of uncertainty that we've been under since Masters' disappearance. Now to the local weather, let's check in with meteorologist Bob Stevens."

"Thanks Carol, speaking of being out from under cloud cover, today is going to be clear and warm. The rest of the week..."

Tucker turned the TV off and then tossed the remote farther down the couch. He sighed and allowed himself to sink back farther into the overstuffed cushion.

"I know this is weird for me to say, but God I hate politics." He said, deflated, "Having world leaders calling you from countries you've never even heard of to personally yell at you has a decidedly unique way of ruining one's day. Then there are the radio and TV reporters, not to mention a million and one news papers that inundate you with questions to try to slip you up, then there's all of the activist groups that always seem to be on the opposite side of any issue that you take on, and finally you have to deal with all of the municipal leaders, the police commissioner, chiefs of the fire departments, and even the head of the utilities department, to give them a piece of the credit, which they feel that they deserve, and keep them from striking.

Ugh! It all seems so unnecessary."

Jazz snuggled up to him on the couch.

"Don't let it get to you. This is a solid win. The town is safe and Vlad will never be a threat again. Tally one up for the good guys." She said, pausing to lean forward and kiss him, "Besides, Tuck, everyone knows that you always put the town first."

They had been secretly seeing each other since Nocturne's attack and, though they wanted to let everyone know, they were afraid of Danny, Sam, and the Fenton's response. After all, Danny was his best friend and Jazz's brother which would be yet another conflict in Danny's life that he really didn't need, and Sam and Jazz had only relatively recently started to open up to one another. As far as the Fentons were concerned it was a crap shoot because, on the one hand, they liked Tucker but they tended to be overprotective when it came to Jazz dating. There had been incidents of ecto-weaponry being deployed on boys that she had brought home well before Johnny 13.

Tucker's parents were the only ones who knew, so far, because he'd brought Jazz over for Christmas. They had been delighted. He always spent at least part of every holiday at the Fenton's so it hadn't raised anyone's eyebrows.

With the Vlad situation taken care of, and both the Mansons and the Fentons settled in at the Manson's, which her mother was not happy about, Jazz had come straight to Tucker's. She wanted to get a chance to see him before she had to get back to MIT.

"That's the unfortunate truth." Tucker said, leaning on her, "I never get enough time for the things I want."

Jazz smiled, then looked at her watch and sat straight up with shock and worry.

"Speaking of time, if I don't get going I'm gonna miss a fourth day of classes, and its not gonna be easy to explain why I missed the days that I have as it is." Jazz said giving Tucker a forlorn look.

He held her to him and whispered in her ear, "Don't you want to take advantage of all the amenities of the mayor's palatial estate?"

"You mean your two bedroom town house?" Jazz answered, with a slight giggle, as she pushed him away from her.

"Besides," She continued, "Don't you think that we've upset your neibours enough for one day?"

Tucker kissed her and, with a little smile, said simply, "No, I don't."

* * *

Deep in a part of the Ghost Zone, mostly unknown to even the citizens within, a crack had formed in a great seal which had stood undisturbed through the millennia. It was one of a set of like seals of which only a select few had knowledge. There was only a thin crack in the surface of the seal but it ran deep and through all the way to its core. From the minute fissure a black substance began to run. At first it was only a trickle, then a thin stream, and finally, like flood waters, it poured through into the Ghost Zone forcing the seal and breaking it apart into fragments of stone. Like the scattered pieces of a puzzle in deep space the seal floated away in every direction.

The black fluid rippled and formed itself into a creature which opened its still forming mouths and let forth a foul exhalation of triumph. It stretched its many limbs and flexed its tail for the first time in eons and in a voice, like a chorus of the lost, that seemed to suck away the very air itself it spoke.

"The time has come my brothers, and our reign will be glorious."

From its anamorphous form it sprouted wings of black that teamed with hidden strength and used them to propel itself out into the Ghost Zone and towards the material realm. Both worlds felt its release though they had yet to realize what it meant.

* * *

In Amity Park, even though it was a beautiful, cloudless, and sunny day, the citizens lingered in their beds. They found it difficult to be optimistic about what lay ahead of them. Some used personal time and stayed at home while others simply didn't go to work. The streets lay deserted most of the day. Children came home and went straight to their rooms, men came home and hid from their wives, and women hid from their families. At night the bars were full of the anxious, the worried, the forlorn, and the drunk. A cloud of despair hung over the town and no one knew why.

[Author's notes: For those who have read the previous story "Glint of Gold" I first want to apologize for how long it has taken me to get this out. I've been pretty busy with work and my book Gaia: Rebirth, which will hopefully be out in July of this year. I have also taken up animation, as I have plans to try to get a line of revamped 80's cartoons possibly through on cartoon network, which is taking up more of the time that I use for my side projects.

This prologue to the "Glint of Gold" sequel has been written since shortly after I ended that piece but I wanted to have a few chapters under my belt before I started getting back into it full time which would keep me from having the delays that I had with the first story. Unfortunately it has been slower going than I had hoped, somewhat because I want to have longer chapters but mostly because I have fallen into AU territory. While I can, and have, claimed that "Glint of Gold" is for the most part continuity, this story will both add depth to cannon and pull in all new material to the Danny Phantom universe. I have no safety net to this and its success will be biased solely on my writing ability and imagination. I hope that you enjoy it and I look forward to your comments.

-with love, D]


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